故态复萌英文中12个月的名称背后的故事

2021年1月13日发(作者：叶立培)
英文中12个月的名称背后的故事
1
January 一月

January is named after the Roman god Janus, who presided over doors and
beginnings – appropriately enough, for the beginning of the year (though this
is, as you will discover, not as straightforward as it seems). Indeed, Janus
was usually depicted with two faces looking backwards and forwards, as is
often characteristic of a new year; this also gave rise to the term Janus word
for words that have two opposite meanings.
January是以罗马神话中双面神杰纳斯（Janus） 的名字命名的。他负责司守门
户以及万物的始末——作为一年的开始，他很适合（尽管你会发现，其实并 没
有那么直观）。事实上，杰纳斯通常以双面孔示人，一面回顾过去，一面注视
未来，而这经常 被视为新的一年的特征；这也使得它的引申词组“Janus word”
（双面词）表示兼有两种相反含义的词。
2
February 二月

February is ultimately based on Latin februarius, from februa. In case that’s
not helped things become clearer, februa was the name of a purification feast
held on the 15th of this month. February is a divisive issue in modern
pronunciation, with both Feb-yoo-ary and Feb- roo-ary being commonly heard.
February由拉丁语“feb rua”的衍生词“februarius”演变而来。可能这样说并没有
解释得很清楚，这里再补充一 下：“februa”是这个月十五号举行的一场涤罪盛宴
的名称。在现代英语中，人们对“Febru ary”的发音产生了分歧，最常听到的有
两种，一种是“Feb-yoo- ary”，还有一种是“Feb-roo-ary”。
3
March 三月

Which god gets a planet and a month named after him? You’ve guessed it:
Mars. Why him? As the Oxford English Dictionary notes, ‘In ancient Rome
several festivals of Mars took place in March, presumably in preparation for
the campaigning season, since Mars was a god of war.’
有哪位神的名字既是一个星球的名字，又是一个月份的名字呢？你们已经猜到
了：马尔斯（Mars）。为什么是他？《牛津英语词典》上记载：“在古罗马时
期，一些有关于马尔 斯的节日都在三月举行，想必是为了战争时期做准备，因
为马尔斯是一位战神。”
4
April 四月

We know that the English word April comes from the Latin Aprillis, the fourth
month of the ancient Roman calendar, but things are less clear after that. In
Old English, April was also sometimes called Eastermonab, ‘Easter month’.
我们知道英文词汇“April”来源 于拉丁语“Aprillis”，是古罗马日历的第四个月，但
除此之外，我们就不太清楚了。在古英语 中，四月有时也被称为
“Eastermonth”，即“复活月”。
5
May 五月

The month is connected with the goddess Maia. Perhaps less well known now
than the other deities with months named after them, Maia (in Greek
mythology) was daughter of Atlas and mother of Hermes. She was considered
a nurturer and an earth goddess, which may explain the connection with this
springtime month. Although may is a common modal verb, the month and the
word are unrelated.
这个月与玛雅女神（the goddess Maia）有关。与其他神相比，也许玛雅并没
有那么为人们所熟知，在希腊神话中， 她是阿特拉（Atlas）之女，同时也是赫
尔墨斯（Hermes）之母。她被誉为养育者和大地女神 ，这或许可以解释为什么
它是属于春季的月份。尽管“may”经常被用作情态动词，但它与五月并没有 关
系。
6
June 六月

Having conceded one month to a Greek deity, we’re now back with the
Romans: June is named after the ancient Roman goddess Juno, wife of
Jupiter and goddess of marriage and childbirth. June was also once
sometimes known as midsummer month.
前 面已经有一个月是以希腊女神命名的了，现在我们再次回到罗马的神灵：六
月是以古罗马女神朱诺（Ju no）命名的。她是主神朱庇特（Jupiter）的妻子，
是婚姻与分娩之神。六月也曾一度被认为是 仲夏月。
7
July 七月